St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-02-26
PASTE JEWElRY.

some NJ the Most Clever INITIATES. ..A
How They Are Manufactured!
1.-The number of imitation diamonds
worn these days is enormous" said q
fashionable jewelcr reporter. :.
What limitations are mostly worn 80
1.-The double diamond, a clever imi-
tat'"n produced by splitting a worth
less or defective stone and backing it
with tinfoil. Diamoh IS Of this kind
have to be carefully mounted or else
detection will be easy. The business
OF intensifying the sparkle Of a pale,
cheap diamond is now reduced to a
science. Gems are frequently split in
TWO. deeper tone Of color introduced
and they are joined together again.
producing stone that has beautiful
fire and that which sells for three or
four times its original value. Tho
'd"nblet business is extremely
profitable, but Of course no reputa-
Die dealer can afford to sell any
without injuring his trade and reputa-
ton. A lapidary. one Zocolino, in
vented the 'doublet' many years ago.
lie used bit IF crystal as bottom for
makeup. and painted it with trans
parent glue. He then joined together
two cheap thin stones. and produced u
gem that appeared finer than the real.
Ii was not long before his method was
detected. The quartz gems are popu-
lar and come next to the 'doubletS' in
clever counterfeit. They are gems. Of
course. of their kind, but OF what they
are often sold for. Quartz can stand
the test Of the file. which glass can not
do. hence its availability. There are
other stones ami certain varieties Of to-
paz which ar. as hard as diamonds;
and being colorless they are frequently
cut and polished and passed as dia-
monds Of the first water. OF late col
orless gem material has gone up in
prices, owing to the demand from the
bogus diamond manufacturers. Then
there are the paste diamonds SO easily
taken by amateurs fol genuine. The
composition Of paste gems is a mixture
Of violin glass and borax These man.
ufactured stones are very hard to de-
tect, and sometimes find their WI INTO
rich families who are unwitting-
ly imposed upon. The glittering
gems that can be seen on Broadway
after the matinees are over. half the
time are clever limitations, either doub-
lets. quartz or paste. But ut the swell
society balls confess the gems worn
there by the wealthy are genuine. Ex-
tremely wealthy People are not easily
imposed upon; they ,lways have a
jewcler who examines carefully their
gems before they are purchased. The
very moderately well-to-lo people are
often deceived. and young men who
want diamonds to sparkle before their
sweethcarts. Some Of them, though.
go boldly and ask for the limitations
and disp"rt them as genuine. Mock
pearls are frequently seen. too. hut the
diamond is initiated more than any
precious stone. The ruby is sometimes
manufactured from recipe which COM
prises twenty parts of anthony and
glass. five hundred Of strass. a half each
Of purple of Cassius and gold. Avcn-
turine is also a gem glass frequently
used i'm limitations These limitations,
Of course, have some effect upon the
sale of genuine gems. but not to an cx-
tent that is ruinous. l think. though,
that all jewelers. who sell limitations
should deal exclusively in such goods
and SD advertise. The harm comes
from the attempt to palm off counter
feits for real stones. ~ y Mail anil
ErpFCSs.